


it's not that steve doesn't like tony

by jantony



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Lists, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Slash, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-03-13 08:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18937660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jantony/pseuds/jantony
Summary: It was that moment that Steve knew he had broken something irreparable within Tony Stark. He never deserved Tony Stark's heart.





	1. they just don’t get along outside of the battlefield

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update the tags as I update the fic

It’s not that Steve doesn’t like Tony; they just don’t get along outside of the battlefield. 

When they’re fighting together, they’re unstoppable - some might even say they were created for each other. Steve doesn’t even have to say a word and Tony is already there by his side - watching his sixth. No villain had a chance in hell against them. They’re harmonious; a perfect team. Even Nick Fury couldn’t fault them.

But when they’re out of their suits, they fight and bicker constantly (like an old married couple - Natasha once said to their dismay). To say they didn’t see eye to eye is no understatement, and that isn’t literal because let’s face it Tony Stark wasn’t as tall as he liked to pretend he is. If someone asked them what they fought about, Steve wouldn’t know what to answer. Fighting was like second nature to them and when they weren’t fighting super robots or aliens they’d fight each other. Fighting Tony was as easy as breathing for Steve, but what he didn’t know was how much it affected Tony.

~

“Lower 5th Avenue is clear Cap” Natasha said through the comms, they had just finished fighting Doom’s bots that had gotten loose in the city for the 3rd time this week. This time the bots had gotten smarter which meant that their usual tactics didn’t work as well. Who put fire laser on robot drones?

“Thor, Hulk start clearing out the library the roof looks like its about to fall. Hawkeye, Black Widow continue clearing out the surrounding buildings. Iron Man air assist for the team” Steve instructed, punching a robot straight in its head. He ripped out the power box and continued making his way towards the other Avengers, making sure that there were no more civilians lying around.

All of a sudden Steve heard a metallic whirr and turned round, there wasn’t just one super robot but 8 that he could count. Each one of them with glowing eyes ready to shoot. Steve charged towards them, hiding himself behind the shield as much as he could before launching his barrage of attacks. He managed to take apart the first two bots in front of him but the others quickly surrounded him, shooting laser beams from all angles. It hurt but Steve was counting on adrenaline and his super serum to pull him through. 

Steve was about to brace himself for a nasty hit from the bot at 3 o’clock but it hadn’t come. Iron man blasted the bots on the Captain’s right and Steve dealt with the ones in front of him. Within a minute they had destroyed the hoard of bots that had cornered Steve. 

“You’re meant to be on assist” Steve shouted, he was angry, Tony had disobeyed his direct order.

“You needed help” Tony sniped back, ripping the last bot’s head off.

“I had it under control - ” 

“- You were going to be blasted Cap, maybe you should thank me” Tony shouted back. 

“All clear boys” Natasha said into the comms, once again the avengers saved the day. Tony had already flown back to the tower and Steve went to join the others. 

It was no surprise when Tony hadn’t turned up to debrief - he almost never did but Steve was still angry about today’s mission. If there had been a bigger threat, leaving his post could have meant that the other members were at risk. 

“Hey JARVIS can you tell me where Tony is” Steve sighed, looking up into the ceiling, he knew that JARVIS didn’t have a corporeal form but he felt weird talking to himself plus the JARVIS’ voice came from the ceiling. 

“Sir is in his lab, he’s instructed me not to allow any visitors as he is currently busy” The well spoken British voice replied.

“I need to speak to him, its urgent” Steve replied. 

“Very well” JARVIS replied, if he could sound exasperated he did. 

Steve began making his way down to Tony’s lab, he had only been there a couple of times to pick up his new suit or weapons for the team but it was overwhelming to say the least. 

Steve keys in his number and the door slides open. 

“I’m busy Pepper, I told JARVIS not to bother me apart from emergencies” Tony calls out from the back of the lab, his hair is sticking up in different directions and he’s ditched his normal suits for a tatty vest with burn holes. Tony fires the repulsor taking out a chunk of his wall, seemingly satisfied he looks up.

“Oh it's you”

“I need to talk to you” Steve replies, folding his arms.

“I’m busy can’t you see” Tony replies, ignoring Steve.

“Tony we need to talk about your lack of team working skills. You didn’t come to debrief again.”

“I don’t need to, JARVIS analyses all the fight patterns for me.”

“Tony” Steve says angrily. Tony puts down his soldering iron and looks up, albeit a little angry. “You disobeyed my orders today, you left your post when I told you to assist”

“And you needed help and I helped you, I don’t see the problem” Tony crosses his arms, a mirror to Steve.  
“I had it under control” Steve replies, his voice getting progressively louder. “If you disobey a direct order again, I’m benching you.” This is probably where Steve Rogers should have shut his mouth, but he pushes on.

“You’re delusional old man, you needed help and I helped you. The sky was clear and no one got hurt. So if you don’t mind, please get out of my lab so I can get on with funding the avengers, building things for you and housing your sorry asses. I don’t know what my dad ever saw in you” Tony says. He stalks over to the other side of the lab and begins tapping on his tablet.

Steve Rogers never backs down from a fight, so instead of walking away and cooling off he rises to the bait. Like a well oiled machine, they launch into a shouting match, neither of them saying things they really mean but it doesn’t mean that it hurts less. 

Luckily Pepper walks in and Steve storms out of the lab. 

He doesn’t like Tony Stark at all.


	2. it's that tony reminds Steve of what he lost in the ice

It’s not that Steve doesn’t like Tony, it’s that Tony reminds Steve of what he lost in the ice. 

Tony looks like Howard, there’s no denying that. The first time they had met, Steve really thought that Howard Stark, that bastard had managed to figure out immortality. He realised that it wasn’t but not quick enough because Tony caught on and a look flickered across his eyes before he turned on one of his smiles - this was before they even began fighting. 

A few months later, the fights became less frequent and they managed to somewhat cohabit peacefully. The team bonding activities that Nick Fury had forced upon them had made them more tolerable to each other but Tony still reminded Steve of Howard.

Tony was loud, and abrasive and he definitely had no trouble with telling Steve where to stick it. Tony was no doubt, a genius, he created things that Howard wouldn’t have ever dreamt, he was a futurist. Tony tinkered when he was bored, StarkPads lying around everywhere in case an idea popped up, just like Howard would.

Tony also loved to talk a million miles an hour, his mind changing subjects quicker than his mouth could keep up - and he could talk fast especially on coffee. He hid his real feelings behind jokes and buried anything emotional with mindless subjects. So it was no surprise that it took Steve so long to realise that his words hurt Tony. Especially when he compared him to his father. 

At first, Steve didn’t see anything wrong with it, he liked Howard. Howard was one of his friends and always looked out for Steve. He was a genius, and shared the same quirks as his son - although it did throw him off Steve will admit. And he drew away from Tony; it was easier for him to fight Tony and to keep him away than try to get close. 

Tony was a painful reminder of the 40s and what he lost - Bucky, Peggy, even the commandos. He missed the camaraderie, the easy banter and the friendship. Tony lit up the room, earnest in his interactions with everyone. Steve was jealous. Bruce and Tony would sit for hours discussing science, expanding on theories and new inventions. Rhodey shared his inside jokes with Tony, swapped stories and bantered easily - a harsh reminder of Bucky. Especially when Tony flirted with dames.

Yes Tony looked like his dad, and even acted like him at times. But later on, Steve would realise that Tony was nothing like Howard, he was a hundred times the man Howard ever was..


	3. it's that steve can't get tony off his mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have exams i'm so sorry !! i'll keep updating when i can, sorry i haven't read through this and edited it in depth but here's the next chapter

No. it’s not that Steve doesn’t like Tony, it’s that he can’t keep Tony off his mind.

Slowly, as the nights turned day and the seasons turned from summer to autumn to winter. Steve and Tony began to become friends. Steve doesn’t know what changed between them but one day, they stopped arguing. The snipes turned into easy banter between friends and the edges of them that used to rub each other raw had shifted, they clicked. 

It was awkward at first, they didn’t really know each other, apart from shouting insults and trying to rile up the other person. Steve realised that he and Tony were more alike than he first thought, they just had wildly different ways of approaching the situations at hand. 

The Avengers had mandatory “bonding sessions” which most of the time included fun activities that Phil Coulson thought would help with morale and team working. This varied from movie nights, trivia nights to even games of paintballing every Wednesday evening. For some reason even the villains took Wednesday evenings off meaning that their bonding sessions were always uninterrupted (to Tony’s avail). 

Steve watched his team, as a leader it was important to understand the dynamics, making it easier for him to delegate roles in battle. Coulson was right, the more they knew about each other the better they’d work together. 

Clint and Natasha had history, they trusted each other implicitly but they needed to trust the rest of the team. Bruce helped with setups and the Hulk was called in when they needed more firepower but they still had trouble getting Bruce back after a Hulk out. Thor was from Asgard and kept travelling which meant that they couldn’t always rely on him so they had to work on dynamics that would work with or without Thor. 

Tony was a wild card, Steve didn’t understand Stark at all. On some missions, Tony worked perfectly in sync with the team, on others Tony did the opposite of everything Steve asked him to do. Granted, Tony had reasons for going off on his own or abandoning his post - most of the time to save someone, but Steve always felt as if Tony only did it to anger Steve. When they’d become friends, Steve realised that Tony didn’t do things to anger Steve but instead did them because it was the right thing to do. Tony could never sit somewhere and let bad things happen especially if he had the power to stop it from happening. 

“Cap, you pick first” Tony’s voice snapped Steve out of his thoughts, right, paintballing. The whole team had geared up in an empty warehouse for a game of capture the flag, a special bonding session because the winners would get to pick a movie after. Tony looked ridiculous to Steve, in his paintballing gear, everything looked slightly too big on his smaller frame. Coulson had said no weapons allowed apart from the bog standard paintball guns and grenades (Clint said that it would make it fair because he would kick everyone’s asses with or without his arrows, Tony said it wasn’t fair because Steve was a supersoldier and Thor was a literal god).

“Thor” 

“A mighty choice soldier! I will not let you down!” Thor boomed, bouncing his way towards Steve before slapping him across the back.

“Alright, I see how it is” Tony mock glared at Steve. “Natasha come join the winning team baby” Natasha punched Tony on the arm, not hard enough to actually hurt him but hard enough to say if you call me baby again I’m going to rip your balls off.

“Clint”

“Aw YEAH I’m gonna beat your ass Nat!” Clint shouted.

“You wanna bet?” Natasha replies, looking at her nails before shooting a murderous glare at Clint. 

“Brucey baby, join the dream team” Tony coos, Bruce ambles over looking anxious. They’d told the Hulk that it was paintballing and the team were prepared for a Hulk out, but that didn’t stop Bruce from being anxious about hurting the others. Tony had a backup suit ready to fly in to contain the Hulk if needed but they all reassured the scientist that everything was gonna be okay. 

“Alright here are the rules, first team to capture the other team’s flag wins. No special powers, so no lightning Point Break.” Tony looks pointedly at the Asgardian. 

“Worry not Stark! I shall not need my powers to beat your team” Thor exclaims.

“The paintballs are set to if you get shot you’re immobilised for a minute, human or not.” Tony claps his hands. “Game on!” 

The battle was pretty well balanced, Clint and Natasha were preoccupied fighting each other to notice Tony edging closer to the flag. Steve had to deal with Bruce’s surprisingly accurate shots from very far away. Thor was trying to take down Bruce but Bruce being small was very nimble and hid in plain sight. 

Once the minute was over, Steve stopped being frozen to the ground he dashed towards his flag, the fight had migrated towards Steve’s flag which wasn’t great because they had to be on defence. He spotted Tony running towards their blue flag and shot a couple of times. Tony rolled out of the way and shot back, narrowly missing Steve’s chest. Steve grinned, this was fun. Steve hadn’t expected Tony to dodge out of the way as quick as he did but he was proud. He ran towards the brick wall that Tony had disappeared behind carefully. All clear. He slowly edged around with his gun up ready to fire.

Suddenly he landed on his back and had a very happy Tony straddling his waist pointing a gun towards his face, one hand adjusting the helmet that had begun to go askew.

“Sorry Rogers, I really want to watch Mean Girls” Tony said before shooting him in the chest and running off. Steve had no idea what had just happened or why having an armour clad Tony straddling his waist had caused a wave of desire to wash over him.

He hears a Hulk roar and sees Thor flying through the air landing a couple of meters from Steve. The paintball immobiliser had worn off and he can still see Tony running towards the flag. Steve throws a smoke grenade before making sure that Thor is okay. 

Clint had managed to get himself free from Natasha and ran towards the Hulk shooting as many paintballs as he could. This only stopped the Hulk momentarily but didn’t completely immobilise him. Hulk ran towards Clint as Thor threw himself onto Hulk’s back. They grappled for a couple of minutes and Steve spots Natasha getting closer to the flag.

Steve runs towards the flag gunning for Natasha, confident that Tony was still out of commission due to the smoke bomb. Natasha turns around and shoots at Steve, he manages to dodge the storm of bullets almost within reaching distance. Natasha lowers her gun and kicks Steve’s out of his hand. 

Natasha manages to get Steve into a headlock and he ends up on his back the second time this time between Nat’s thighs, he can see Tony legging it across the warehouse getting closer and closer to the flag. He manages to get out but Natasha isn’t letting him get free, she’s too fast for him and knows where his weak spots are. 

“Clint the flag!” He manages to scream. Clint vaults across the warehouse, shooting at Tony who manages to dodge out of the way, rolling backwards firing at Clint. 

They ended up watching Mean Girls. 

Tony unabashedly recites every line, Clint starts a popcorn war at him for being loud, Natasha curls up on the couch corner trying to hide her smile, Bruce passes out a quarter of the way through on Thor’s lap who’s entranced at the screen. 

Steve watches the scene unfold in front of him, he laughs at Tony’s impressions of the characters on screen and his ongoing commentary. Tony glances at Steve, almost shocked to hear him laughing along with the others but the emotion is quickly replaced with a shy genuine smile. Steve couldn’t get that image of Tony out of his head for weeks.

He’s happy. He’s home.


End file.
